HARRISON, N.J. – Second verse, same as the first.
Returning from the two-week international break, the Red Bulls picked up right where they left off, downing the Seattle Sounders 2-0 in front of 21,102 at Red Bull Arena on Sunday night.
After their rocky start, New York has bounced back going 6-1-1 over their last eight matches, winning four straight in MLS play. Now up to second in the East, the Red Bulls won’t have time to rest on their laurels as a daunting stretch of games looms large, featuring four away fixtures in 12 days over all competitions.
But for now, let’s take a look back New York’s latest home win.
Grelladinho Goes Off
Before the break, the offense began to hit its stride with Bradley Wright-Phillips leading the way. And after returning to the pitch at Red Bull Arena, Mike Grella decided to pick up the baton and run with it.
Now up to six goals on the season, the Long Island native bagged just his second brace in MLS and his first in 2016.
“It was good but it was also a good team performance,” Grella said after the match. “We had to sit in tough, it was a very difficult game with the heat and they had a lot more of the ball than we are used to, from teams we play at home and it was just a satisfying result to get the three points. I had my two chances and put them away and we got the three points.”
Always lurking with penchant for the spectacular, the man they call Grelladinho showed off more of his flair with his second goal of the evening. After picking off an errant back pass, Grella raced in on net before chipping Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei to seal the result.
“The thing with Mike is always getting the balance right of when to play simple and when to do special things,” head coach Jesse Marsch said. “Clearly, when he gets that balance right, he's very difficult to deal with.
“I think Mike's just gotten himself going as the season's gone on and he's gotten sharper and sharper and more confident.”
Access Denied
Five straight shutouts.
Even while giving Aurelien Collin a rare night off, New York still managed to keep a clean sheet en route to yet another three points. Per Opta, it is the first time the Red Bulls have kept four clean straight MLS clean sheets since 2006, when the team recorded six straight shutouts.
Over all competitions, they have now strung together five in a row.
“There's a lot of pride right now in the group to get shutouts and to prevent goals from going in,” Marsch said. “So Connor [Lade sliding to prevent a goal]; all of our backs are sliding around; Dax [McCarty] and Felipe are running back; on-set pieces you see our guys making big, desperate plays. Luis is doing a good job of keeping everybody tuned in, surveying, making saves, being so solid.
“That's going to be a key for us moving forward here is we've got to continue to find ways to get clean sheets and not give goals away.”
From top to bottom, the defensive effort was ratcheted up to another level on Sunday night, and it should come as no surprise given the team’s renewed focus.
“Championship teams are built from the back to the front, and the defense is the most important thing,” Grella added. “As a group and defensively as a group if we keep clean sheets we are going to create chances, we're going to get chances and be dangerous. That is how you build a solid team that can really go after cups and championships is with the defense, so keeping shutouts is very important for us.”
Backstopping the Red Bulls every step of the way, goalkeeper Luis Robles has seen a carousel of players stepping in along the back four, yet the standard has never dropped.
With another clean sheet in his pocket, Robles was full of praise for a full team effort on Sunday night.
“Defensively the thing that has been so special about the last five games is that it's been an entire team working as one unit,” he said. “All the way from Bradley [Wright-Phillips] to our outside midfielders to our guys in the middle, then of course the back line all the way back to myself.
“Of course when I see that happening it gives me a lot of confidence that we're going to do a great job defensively and they got some opportunities in the first half and they opened us up a little bit but we kept it tight in the second half and that's why we were able to finish the shutout tonight.”
Continuing to Climb
The 1-6-0 start that plagued this team to start 2016 is well on its way to being erased.
Thanks to some thoroughly impressive performances to close out the first half of the year, the Red Bulls have clawed their way out of the early hole they dug for themselves, ascending to second place in the Eastern Conference.
“We've rebounded really well,” Marsch added. “I think we were going to use the downtime to motivate us and to make us clear on what it was going to take to be successful.”
Large strides have been made, but the head coach made sure to remind his side that the turnaround is not yet complete.
“I think that that has been the case, but it's still ongoing. It doesn't stop. You have to continue to push. You can't stop and be too proud of yourself because that's when the next slip-up will come. We have to stay focused.”
